Internet of Things Will Bring Promise and Challenges by 2025

Below:

Next story in Science

By the year 2025, the "Internet of Things" will bring
improvements in convenience and efficiency, but at the expense of
privacy, social divisions and complex problems, experts predict.

Wearable
devices that track health and activity will become more
widespread, smart homes will enable people to control appliances
remotely and sensors in the environment will optimize energy use
and other resources, according to a group of technology gurus
surveyed for the Pew Research Center Internet Project, honoring
the 25th anniversary of the Internet.

However, "These voices are expressing optimism well tempered by
fairly urgent warnings that negatives come with the positives,"
Anderson told Live Science.

Internet of Things

Experts predict the future Internet of Things will bring changes
in a wide variety of areas.

Wearable devices will become even more ubiquitous, providing a
link to the Internet and a way to track activity, health and
fitness, experts say. The constant monitoring has the potential
to vastly improve health care, some say.

At the community level, smart devices will make transportation
more efficient, sense pollution levels or control the delivery of
electricity or water, sensing when there's a problem in the
system.

Industry will ride the wave of technology too, with factories and
supply chains being able to track materials and speed up the
manufacture and distribution of goods, the report said.

Meanwhile, environmental monitoring will provide real-time
information about land, ocean or air quality, soil moisture or
mining, with the ability to alert authorities to any problems.

But the future isn't all cheery and bright, experts warn. Some
say trends in technology threaten
online privacy and personal relationships, creating tension
between early adopters and those left behind.

Concerns

A world so steeped in data and connectivity raises concerns about
people's ability to control their lives and personal information,
the report said. Greater monitoring will also make it easier to
profile or target people, which could widen social and economic
gaps.

"We will continue to surrender our privacy and control over our
lives to facilitate convenience," Anderson said, summarizing
responses in the report.

Some experts warned that technology advances
may not live up to their hype. For example, while they expect
voice and touch interfaces to improve, few people think human
brains will be connected to computer networks by 2025.

Other experts expressed concern that an increasingly technical
society will give rise to complex problems. "We will live in a
world where many things won't work and nobody will know how to
fix them," one survey respondent said.

Machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, in which devices talk
to each other directly, will become increasingly common, and
could keep humans out of the loop, some worry.

Society will become more and more virtually connected. But there
will be those who can't be connected, or simply choose not to be,
ushering in a digital divide.

Some experts also raised concerns about the motives people may
have to exploit the Internet of Things.

Technology can be used for good or evil, but humans have
historically adopted new gadgets or devices if they became
available, Anderson said. It's not always possible to predict
what will happen, but it's going to be interesting, she said.